The year is 2038. Earth’s biosphere is on the brink of destruction from the effects of global warming and pollution. The World Energy Council has awarded a lucrative contract to a major US corporation to mine a precious ore discovered by the first manned mission to land on Mars. One kilo of Micromium can power a large city for a year without environmental side effects. A few grains of the ore can fuel a car for a year or longer. Micromium promises to provide clean energy to a thirsty planet far into the future.

When two people die in a mining accident on Mars, the World Energy Council sends Commander Logan Marchant and a crack team of astronaut specialists to investigate.

Confronted with a lack of cooperation from the mining colonists, the investigation is further complicated by Logan’s growing attraction to the team’s beautiful and brainy geologist. While tensions and tempers rise, Logan and the audit team make one shocking discovery after another, until the investigation leads them into mortal danger, and ultimately, to a surprising conclusion.

What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?

Micromium started with a dream I had of a glowing chunk of ore discovered by astronauts exploring a comet. The idea of a pure, miraculous new energy source excited me. I am somewhat surprised by the story that eventually developed from the idea.

What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?

I wrote the book for someone like you. I want you to have a good time and I want to inform you. It’s a good book. You’ll like it. Trust me.

What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character? Who-real or fictional-would you say the character reminds you of?

Commander Logan Marchant has survived the tragic loss of his beloved mother in early childhood and an emotionally abusive relationship with his father. Despite these hardships, he has ascended to high rank in the Air Force and the NASA space program. When Logan meets Kate Blackstone, a brilliant and talented member of his audit team, he is forced to confront the deadly pit of darkness and emptiness that has threatened to consume him for as long as he can remember.

Logan reminds me of a number of successful people, Hollywood “A” list actors in particular, who suffer and often self-destruct as a result of a bottomless pit of loneliness, insecurity, hopelessness and despair. Their suffering usually stems from the trauma of abuse and/or inadequate childhood nurturing.

If they made your book into a movie, who would you like to see play the main character(s)?

I’d like to see Chris Evans play Logan Marchant and Kate Beckinsale play Kate Blackstone.

When did you first decide to become an author?

I began writing short stories in my early forties. I decided to become an author of long fiction when I turned fifty years old. I figured (and still do) fiction writing was something I could do for the rest of my life. My writing “arc” started with copy writing and all manner of marketing communications, to short stories, screenplays, and eventually novels.

Two to four hours per day depending upon outside distractions and daily responsibilities.

What’s the best and the hardest part of being an indie?

The best part of being an Indie Author is not having a commercial publisher breathing down my neck with deadlines and suggestions as to what I should write next or rejecting a book proposal that I am enthusiastic about writing. The hardest part is the difficulty of getting books in stores and making my books “discoverable.”

What’s a great piece of advice that you can share with fellow indie authors?

Learn the basics of creating compelling characters and plots from established, professional writers. Learn how to create scenes packed with conflict and drama that move the story forward while capturing your reader’s attention.

Would you go traditional if a publisher came calling? If so, why?

It would depend upon the publisher which came calling. If a major publisher came forward, I’d have to go with them because I want my books to reach as many people as possible. Also, having a traditional publisher helps enormously with media placement and reviews in widely read newspapers and magazines.

Is there something in particular that motivates you?

It’s fun to create and live in imaginary worlds populated by characters that become like a family to me. Above and beyond this, I want to communicate a central theme that I am passionate about that I feel will have universal appeal.

Comparatively speaking, writing a novel is the fun, easy, first step of the self-publishing process. The second step, creating an attention-getting eBook cover (and optional print version cover) offers its own unique set of challenges. The most intimidating undertaking, to most authors, is the third step—marketing. The word strikes terror in their sensitive little hearts because many authors want as little to do as possible with the outside world.

The largest, most demoralizing marketing question is, “Where do I begin?” Guess what? I’m not going to tell you. There are about a billion articles and blogs on “How to Market Your Book.” Go read one. In this blog, I plan to relate the first steps I’ve taken to escort my eBook into this over published world.

There are more than seven billion people alive, but how many of them read regularly? Better yet, how many of them are looking for my book? Answer: None—Zero—Zilch—hence the need for marketing. I carefully packed this thought away in a dark corner of my creative attic upon beginning the journey of writing a first novel.

As I neared the climactic scenes of my first draft, I noticed it became harder to write. After a good deal of soul-searching and hand wringing, I diagnosed the problem. My writer’s block stemmed from the subliminal understanding that it was almost time to say goodbye to my family of characters and their world. That world had nearly ended, but it was far better than my ordinary life and the real world terrors of self-promotion. Excuse me for this digression. I couldn’t help it.

Flash forward 18 months. I’ve uploaded the eBook to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and ibooks. I’ve developed a Three Days to Darkness web site and a Facebook page. After a year-long struggle, I’ve managed to place a hyperlinked image of my eBook in the right hand column of this blog (see “I Finally Did It”).

Now what? Gulp…

This is the seriously hard part—driving people to these outposts in cyberspace.

I started with an ad on Book Daily. Your book is featured for one day per month on Book Daily’s E-Zine. Your first chapter is e-mailed to a combined audience of 25,000 readers (many of them authors). They e-mail your chapter to a subset of readers by genre on three consecutive days during the month. With each exposure, your book is piggy backed with five competitive books. The ad costs $49.00 per month. I sold two books the first month. I cancelled the campaign.

I’m experimenting with ads on Facebook. You can create a campaign budget and target audience starting at $5 per ad. So far, I’ve spent $35 on three ads. I’m having fun racking up tons of likes. I’m waiting for the book sales to come rolling in.

Next, I’m planning a press release on PR Web with a target audience of 30,000 journalists and bloggers. The idea is to drive traffic to my web sites and to generate publicity on major news sites and search engines. The campaign will cost $250. To do it right, I will need a book trailer video as part of the package. A simple video will cost another $250. I am using California Videowork to produce the video.

Wait a minute…This makes no sense.

I will have to sell at least a thousand digital copies of my book at $3.99 each to generate a profit (after deducting advertising and self-publishing expenses, plus a few hundred hours of my valuable time).

The odds of selling a thousand digital copies of my book are probably north of a zillion to one.

You know what? Fuck the odds.

*I apologize for assaulting you with another image of “Three Days to Darkness.” I posted it to get a hyperlinked image of the eBook on my Facebook page. I can’t figure out another way to do it. I think Facebook makes it impossible to hyperlink images on FB pages because they want you to spend money advertising. I could be wrong about this.

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About

After a career in marketing communications, I turned my attention to creative writing. To date, I've written three feature length screenplays and three novels. At this point, I am determined to become less serious.